Working from home is a very tempting idea for many people, but many potential small entrepreneurs have no idea what type of business they should open. Maybe they believe that their skills and work experience are not suited for a small business, or simply believe that it is too difficult to manage that kind of business on their own.
However, there are a lot of opportunities for internet home businesses in various niches, some of which you may not consider in the first instance. For example, one such niche is related to domain names. A domain name is what you type in the internet browser when you want to visit a website.
Why is domain trading a good niche for starting an internet home business? Because there is a great potential value in a good domain name. A short and memorable URL address is like opening a store on the most fashionable street in the city: people will remember it and find their way to it very easily.
So, there is money to be made from domain trading, but there are also some caveats. Let’s go through both issues:
1. Starting up Your Business
In order to start a domain trading business, you have to register yourself for tax purposes, and own a computer with internet connection. These are the basic prerequisites for any internet home business. Next, you have to find places where you can buy domain names.
There are three ways to buy domains:
⦁ By auction from large registrars such as GoDaddy,
⦁ Through specialized sites such as Sedo, and
⦁ By finding expired domain names (i.e. for which the original owner failed to renew payment)
2. Types of Domains with Great Earning Potential
There are a few types of domain names which are sure winners if you invest in them. They are likely to bring you a good profit on resale, on the condition that you buy and sell them at the right moments and to the right customers. Such types of domains are:
⦁ Generic Domain Names: these are names of common products or services, which have not been registered with a certain extension or in a certain country. They have a huge potential especially if you follow the news and find out if a specific product or service will be launched in a specific territory in the near future.
⦁ Geographic Domain Names: some areas around the world have a huge potential for tourism, but are still not very popular. You can do your research with travel websites and find out everything about upcoming trends. Then, search for domain names and buy them while they are still cheap.
⦁ Timely Domain Names: 2020Olympics is a great example of a timely domain name. Research the most important upcoming sports, cultural and political events, and try to buy the respective domain names a few years before they take place. The closer you get to the respective date, the more expensive these domains will become.
3. Potential Problems
There are two types of problems that may undermine your domain trading home business: financial and legal ones. The financial problems refer to the investment you make in a bulk of websites which fail to sell for a profit – or at all. In the worst case scenario, you are left with 20 or 30 domain names which you cannot sell. You can choose to use a few of them, by posting content and building traffic and then sell them, or dump the under-performing ones altogether.
Legal troubles arise when you unwittingly buy domain names which were stolen from their legitimate owners by hacking or illegally offered for sale by registrars before notifying the owner for renewal of ownership.
Just like any business, domain trading is not 100% safe and profitable. But, with some skill, diligence and common sense, you can make it work for you and make a sufficient profit to make it worthwhile.